Miss Alabama Courtney Porter's late mom was her biggest fan

HOMEWOOD, ALABAMA -- Courtney Porter, the new Miss Alabama, was surrounded Saturday night by about 40 supporters brandishing glow sticks and light sabers. Every time she appeared onstage they cheered wildly.

Her biggest cheerleader, however, was missing. One month ago, her mother died. The one who had encouraged her to enter her first pageant wasn't able to see her win the long coveted title.

"They told her she had two months, and she had two years, so she was a miracle, and she just kept me going," Porter said. "She's always been my support system."

Porter's mother, Michelle Porter, passed away on April 28 after a two-year battle with liver cancer. Porter said that her mother had encouraged her to enter her first pageant in high school at Clay-Chalkville.

"The swimsuit competition was a really big thing for me as a sophomore in high school," she said. "I thought that was kind of crazy, but she convinced me that I could do it, and she was right."

Porter, a 24-year-old Clay native and a graduate of Auburn University with a communications degree, was crowned Saturday night at Samford University's Wright Center after four days of competitions. She had competed in the Miss Alabama pageant for six years, including this year, and would have aged out of the competition had she not won. Contestants cannot be older than 24.

Porter will continue her community service platform with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America as the new Miss Alabama. Her mother, a kindergarten teacher for 32 years, encouraged her to pursue a platform based on fostering children's education, she said.

"I am pursuing this platform in her honor," Porter said. "I just always had a heart for children because of her."

Ever her biggest supporter, Porter's mother would help her to prepare for current events competition questions by clipping out the day's newspaper headlines and placing them on her bed.

"She was just one of the biggest cheerleaders that would be the first one to come and encourage me," Porter said. "But I could still feel her doing that this year. She's still here with me."

Scholarship money is what drew Porter to the Miss Alabama organization in the first place, she said. Growing up with two sisters, Lindsay, 28, and Holly, 23, Porter thought she could offset some of the college costs by winning scholarship money, she said.

"It's important for me to be able to give back to my parents who have given me so much," Porter said. "So if I had an opportunity to use my talents to gain some scholarship money that's what I was going to do."

Porter will receive a $10,000 scholarship as Miss Alabama and will earn money for making appearances across the state. The Miss Alabama organization gave out a total of $103,530 in cash scholarships this year. Porter will go on to compete in the Miss America pageant in January in Las Vegas.

"It's a long journey, and here it is at the end with a crown on my head," she said. "I'm OK with that; I think. I am OK with that."